


this is me trying

by crookedlove



Series: mine’s a tale that can’t be told, my freedom i hold dear [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Season/Series 06, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dialogue Heavy, Gen, Post-Season/Series 05
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:26:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27570751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crookedlove/pseuds/crookedlove
Summary: A few months after Gabriel pulls him out of Hell, Sam prays.
Relationships: Gabriel & Sam Winchester
Series: mine’s a tale that can’t be told, my freedom i hold dear [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1796620
Kudos: 12





	this is me trying

**Author's Note:**

> a commenter on "ramble on" asked about adam. enjoy.
> 
> title from taylor swift song of the same name.

A few months after Gabriel pulls him out of Hell, Sam prays.

He hasn't, not since meeting the angels, not really, but he makes an exception tonight.

"Gabriel?" Sam waits for a few minutes, feeling stupid, before he again asks the quiet motel parking lot, "Gabriel? You around?"

A rustling noise from behind him; Sam turns to see the archangel in all of his glory.

"Uh," Sam says, eloquently. "Why are you covered in tar?"

"It's octopus ink," the ruler of the celestial heavens replies tartly.

"Right," Sam flounders, before remembering his question. "Uh, hey. I wanted to ask you something."

Gabriel quirks a brow; before, Sam would have expected the angel to interject a snarky comment or make a derisive noise. Now, Gabriel just looks bemused.

Sam swallows. "When you, uh. When you pulled me outta Hell. What happened to Adam?"

From the expression on Gabriel's face now, Sam can see that whatever was expected to come out of his mouth, it wasn't that.

What Gabriel doesn't realize, could never expect, is the fact that Hell has a way of clinging to humans. The archangel may have wiped his brain of the true experience of the Cage, but sometimes--

Sometimes, Sam thinks he remembers.

It's nothing concrete, nothing he's even bothered to bring up with Dee, in fact, but in his dreams there'll be a flash of an unholy red, the smirk of a Devil, capital D and everything. The sounds--wet, sticking, peeling flesh, and hysterical laughter rippling the bars of the Cage as two siblings fight, the sound of screams, louder and more true than any he's heard before--

"Earth to Sam?"

Sam snaps back to the moment. The nearly empty motel parking lot, the way the drizzle that's just started makes everything feel unreal, and Gabriel looking at him with some concern.

"Sorry," Sam says. He's not sure what he's apologizing for, exactly.

"It's okay, kid." If Sam didn't know better, he'd think Gabriel looked sympathetic. "We were talking about Adam."

"Right."

"He's in Heaven."

"Right," Sam says dumbly. Then--"Why?"

"Why?" Gabriel's eyebrow inches higher up his face. "Because his soul wasn't damned, that's why. I pulled him out when I grabbed you. Two-in-one Winchester special. Lucky me."

Sam swallows. "Good. That's--good."

Gabriel rolls his eyes. "You need me for anything else? Want me to give you the forecast for tomorrow?"

It's late, and Sam is tired in more ways than one, not up for Gabriel's needling, which is why he blames his brain for blurting out, "Why'd you pull me out, anyway? Just 'cause Dee asked?"

Gabriel is quiet for a moment. "She didn't ask."

"Wait, what?"

The archangel clears his throat. "She didn't ask. I just did it."

"Why? Why the hell would you go down there, knowing your brothers--" Sam cuts off at the look on Gabriel's face. "That's why," he says, the realization cutting into him. "You wanted to check on Michael... and Lucifer."

Gabriel's Adam's apple bobs as he swallows, suddenly looking very tired. "I wanted to know what was happening. More than that, though... neither you nor Adam deserved the fate that was handed to you. I guess I just wanted to prove that two brothers can make it. They don't have to start a war, and can just--just go on and do their own thing." The mask of the Trickster, having been off for the conversation thus far, slips back on. "Besides, Dee would never have let me hear the end of it." With that, Gabriel disappears.

Sam stands in the drizzle, which is steadily becoming a downpour. He pays no mind to the wetness, instead thinking over what he just heard. Gabriel wanted to prove more than two brothers could make it without killing each other, Sam thinks. He wanted to see if they could be happy.

Sam thinks of Dee, and Cas, warm and safe and together in the motel room that adjoins with his. Thinks of the life that stretches on, filled with monsters and different sorts of hauntings albeit, but one that's free for the taking. He smiles, and heads back inside.


End file.
